Daniel Myrick’s Objective

“Afghanistan is a mystical place completely infused with superstition and religion,” Mr. Myrick explained by phone. “I thought it would be an effective contemporary backdrop for a thriller.”

Daniel Myrick, of all people, managed to sound like a condescending marketroid chasing faded trends while promoting his new film, The Objective. This is particularly painful given his obvious desire not to be seen as a one-hit wonder who rode the zeitgeist atop the hype-machine that was The Blair Witch Project.

David Carr only makes it worse with his synopsis:

In the film a C.I.A. officer joins up with a Special Forces crew for a mission deep in the mountains and tells the team members little, at least very little that is true, about what they are actually looking for.

(I think I liked the sound of this movie better when it was called Predator….)

They are confronted by mortal and supernatural threats that leave the crew decimated and wondering precisely what it is up against.

(And I liked the sound of this movie better when it was called…The Blair Witch Project.)

I think it would be great if Mr. Myrick could succeed on his own terms–as he so clearly wants to–but if this is the culmination of nine years of effort, I have to wonder if he might have been better off selling out a bit more readily.